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CONSCIENCE RIGHTS FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS

josephmeaney
Joseph Meaney, HLI

Pro-life Conference Riga, Latvia October 22, 2016

Joseph Meaney PhD  (Part 1)

 I would like to begin by talking about the importance of conscience.

Conscience, or moral conscience, is a philosophical and theological term that comes from the Latin conscientia, “with knowledge”.

The Church teaches human beings can and should determine what is good or evil and guide their actions by this inner moral compass. Catholic doctrine on the conscience revolutionized the world. The ancient world believed that a ruler was almost above morality while slaves had no will of their own. The Church boldly proclaimed everyone without exception must obey the moral law that is discernable to both pagans and Christians alike. Multitudes of martyrs followed the higher law of their conscience rather than obey unjust laws. Inspired by this witness, the Roman Empire and then progressively larger parts of the world converted to this worldview.

Modernity, particularly after 1968, glorified “sex, drugs and rock n roll,” in a Tsunami of relativism. True understanding of the nature of conscience was a victim of this ideology. False ideas that anything that feels good must be morally ok or if something is legal then it is good pervaded the world. The ridiculous idea that selfish pleasure seeking would lead to happiness wrecked lives and families everywhere.

Now in post-modernity liberal morality does not tolerate liberty or “free thinking” when people reject the dogmas of liberalism. Thus, doctors who conscientiously object to abortion, or sterilization, etc. are purgedstarting in medical school from the profession.

True conscience has a rational and objective foundation and its conclusions can be justified to others. In order for us to let conscience be our guide, we must know exactly what it is and what it is not.  

Conscience is a judgment of reason by which the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law: (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1778)

The Church places an extremely high value on conscience since she insists that one has a moral obligation to follow the judgments of our consciences.

We are explicitly warned, however, that conscience is not infallible. In fact, errors are so frequent that throughout her existence the Church has insisted forcefully that the formation of conscience, our moral education, is of paramount importance.

Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings. The education of the conscience is a lifelong task starting from the earliest years.

Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride, born of human weakness and faults. The education of the conscience guarantees freedom and gives peace of heart.

We should have a deep appreciation for the fragile nature of conscience. It is the height of arrogance to assert that one knows what is right and wrong in all cases. Self-interest and sin can easily cloud or obscure our consciences, so everyone should humbly and respectfully seek guidance in moral matters from the Magisterium of the Church and authorities we trust as holy and wise persons.

Conscience is not about knowing moral evil only in the abstract, but to recognize it concretely in a given situation. The result of a good moral decision is positive, leading to a “clear conscience”, or negative, leading to a “guilty conscience”.  It works like an inner voice, speaking with clarity and authority.

One can try to push conscience to the side, attempt to drown it out, find excuses (I was ordered to do it,  etc.) but conscience remains as a personal moral compass. As many of us know too well, one can even make oneself deaf to our conscience, so that eventually we stop hearing its voice; BUT even then, in certain moments of crisis, we can have an awakening and hear again the voice of conscience.

One of the most valuable aspects of conscience is that it can bother us until we repent our sins and come back to the Truth. People may joke sarcastically about “Catholic or Christian Guilt” but this feeling of sinfulness is incredibly beneficial in driving us back to the merciful arms of God and His forgiveness. It is similar to when pain alerts us to a physical problem and drives us to get the medical help we need.

All of us recognize the horror of persons without a conscience and the kinds of acts they commit. Sociopathic or psychopathic behavior is particularly terrible because cold, cruel cunning has replaced conscience. People with distorted or malformed consciences can be almost as bad.

Conscience is not something that allows us to justify doing whatever we want, nor is it a mere “feeling” about what we should or should not do. Rather, conscience is the voice of God resounding in the human heart, revealing the truth to us and calling us to do what is good while shunning what is evil.